


Tell Them

by TheChichiSlaughterHouse



Category: One Piece
Genre: Drama, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-12
Updated: 2019-12-12
Packaged: 2021-02-25 21:14:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,554
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21772021
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheChichiSlaughterHouse/pseuds/TheChichiSlaughterHouse
Summary: Zoro and Sanji have been seeing each other for a while in secret. Constantly getting interrupted by the crew, pretending to be in the middle of an argument because Sanji doesn't want them to know. Zoro's tired of it. ZoroxSanji
Relationships: Roronoa Zoro/Vinsmoke Sanji
Comments: 15
Kudos: 223





	Tell Them

**Author's Note:**

> Tell Them
> 
> By The Chichi Slaughter House
> 
> Warnings: ZoroxSanji, fluff, bickering, drama. 
> 
> Disclaimer: One Piece belongs to Eiichiro Oda.
> 
> Rating: PG
> 
> Continuing the trend of ‘soft for xmas’ with some… normal ZoSan again. You’re welcome?
> 
> [Twitter](http://twitter.com/slaughterchichi) | [Tumblr](http://slaughterchichi.tumblr.com) | [Pillowfort](https://www.pillowfort.social/slaughterchichi) | [Curiouscat](https://curiouscat.me/slaughterchichi)

Zoro was in the galley sitting on a chair as he watched Sanji pottering about in the kitchen. Hearing him mumbling to himself as he inspected the cupboards, a cigarette between his lips and a piece of paper in his hand. No doubt making a list of what supplies they had left – or which ones they needed – since they were supposed to be docking at a new island the next day.

Though Zoro found the behaviour kind of cute, he was getting bored. It felt like the cook had been at this forever, ignoring him though he’d been sitting in here for a while now. Impatient to get his attention, to be able to go back to training as soon as he could. The swordsman couldn’t help himself from smirking, his voice raised as he spoke:

“Oi cook, c’mere. I got a better idea what you can do with that loud mouth of yours.”

Sanji looked at him from the kitchen for a moment, seemingly weighing up his options with a bit of a frown. Whether he wanted to keep ignoring him or boot him in the face for the insult. After a sigh he put out his cigarette and then sauntered over, stopping right in front of him.

“Oh yeah? And what’s that?” Sanji’s voice was teasing as he leaned over and rested his hand on Zoro’s cheek. A smile on his lips that told Zoro he knew exactly what he was thinking about, a slight longing in his eye saying he wanted that too. Letting the insult slide, though he didn’t always. The swordsman had half-expected him to lash out instead, feeling as though it must be his lucky day.

Zoro licked his lips as he tilted his head into Sanji’s palm, enjoying the warmth of his skin. Deciding not to push his luck by saying or doing anything stupid, letting Sanji take the lead from here.

“I think you can guess.”

Feeling like at any moment he was going to end up with Sanji on his lap, Zoro closed his eyes and smiled to himself as Sanji’s fingers trailed down the side of his face. This was nice. His hands itched at his sides as he contemplated just grabbing him and pulling him over, restraining himself only because he knew the cook wouldn’t like that very much. Always cautious throughout the day when the others were awake, only letting his guard down a bit once he knew everyone else was in bed.

Things had been going surprisingly smoothly today; the light and flirty mood a good sign for what would happen later. Zoro was looking forward to it a lot, to the thought of Sanji coming to see him in a pleasant mood. Maybe they’d be able to have a calm night this evening, take their time instead of rushing through everything. The more relaxed Sanji was now, the higher the chance of that was. Zoro preferred to go slowly at the start but often got rushed by Sanji being paranoid and frustrated.

Not that he really blamed him for that. Being the cook on this particular ship was definitely a full-time job; constantly needing to attend to everyone’s different needs, rarely getting a moment to himself. He knew Sanji barely slept much at all and was always on his feet, ever-busy trying to keep the crew happy and well-fed. There wasn’t much time in general to add romance to the list – if this could even be considered such – but Zoro was pleased that Sanji tried to make an effort.

For his part, Zoro was doing his best to make it easy whenever he could. Taking naps closer to the galley when it was suitable, heading in to sit around and watch Sanji as he worked just so they could spend more time together. Since it had started a while ago, he’d even cut back a bit on training and reigned in his nabbing of the booze. Little things like that, ones that appeared to greatly improve Sanji’s mood as well as his own.

Of course, it was not without its own downsides…

Sanji’s fingertips suddenly tensed on Zoro’s chin as he glanced towards the door. Zoro could hear the sound of eager footsteps rushing over, sighing to himself when Sanji let go. Dammit, not again!

“Saaaaaanjiiiii!!” Luffy burst through the door enthusiastically, no doubt grinning his head off like usual. “Snacks!!!”

As soon as the word had left Luffy’s mouth, Sanji’s foot connected with Zoro’s chin. Snapping his head backwards, Zoro grunting in pain and surprise as Sanji grabbed onto his coat.

“Fuck you, marimo!”

Agitated and unable to let it go, Zoro grabbed at Sanji’s shirt in response, pulling him down and glaring at him. Partly to keep up the charade the cook insisted on but partly out of genuine anger, his jaw throbbing from where Sanji had kicked him.

“Ah?! You wanna fucking go??” Zoro glared for all he was worth, noticing that Sanji was looking past him towards where Luffy was. Ignoring him now that his ‘duty’ had been fulfilled, Sanji letting go of his clothes and smacking away his hand.

“Is it that time already?” Sanji sounded exasperated, but at this point Zoro couldn’t tell why. “Alright, it won’t be a minute. Just teaching this asshole to stop trying to steal drinks.”

“That’s bad, Zoro.”

“Says you! Who do you think made it so I have to have a lock on the fridge?” Sanji walked past Zoro to smack Luffy on the head, the sound of his shoe hitting rubber reverberating in Zoro’s ears. He didn’t even bother looking over at them, too annoyed to keep playing along this time. Normally he’d tease Luffy back and earn himself another kick, turn this into a comedy routine that they could laugh off but he wasn’t in the mood.

Truth be told, Zoro was getting pissed off. Bored by the same things happening over and over, the random assaults and yelling when he hadn’t done anything wrong. Normal arguments with Sanji were fine – he enjoyed exchanging insults and blows with him – but not like this.

Behind him he could hear Luffy whining about Sanji’s violence and for once, he was agreeing with him. The cook was always so quick to anger that it was ridiculous but dealing with this as a cover was pushing it from ‘tolerable’ to down-right annoying.

Zoro rubbed at his jaw whilst Sanji and Luffy bickered, only catching bits and pieces of the conversation since he wasn’t paying attention. Too distracted by his own pain to listen to it, too used to the commotion to find it interesting.

When Luffy had left the room, Sanji walked immediately into the kitchen to prepare the snack that the Captain had demanded. Not even a glance to him to see if he was alright, no apology for the sudden kick in the face when Zoro had been expecting something else. Acting cold now that the mood had disappeared, annoying the swordsman like it always did.

“I’m tired of sneaking around,” Zoro grumbled, closing his eyes and leaning back against the chair. “Why can’t we just tell them already?”

He heard Sanji huff in frustration, preparing himself for the tirade of excuses that would usually fall from Sanji’s lips. ‘I’m not ready’, ‘do they really need to know?’, ‘things are fine like this’ – at this point the swordsman had heard them all, could almost predict exactly which one Sanji would use. It was almost like they were stuck on a rotation; one excuse following after the other like the cook was a broken record that had no other tracks to play.

Right now, Zoro was waiting for the ‘why do you care so much?’ deflection. Sanji would insist that what happened between closed doors was private and spend the next half hour or so trying to distract him with sex, attempting to make him drop the topic. Worse still, Zoro knew he was going to allow it. Let Sanji do whatever he felt like to avoid discussing it properly, just causing his own frustration to get worse the next time.

When this had all started, he hadn’t minded the fact that Sanji had wanted to keep it a secret. They’d both been surprised by what they’d done, embarrassed and uncomfortable as they looked at each other and tried to think of what to say. Neither knowing if this was a one-off or something more, or if they even wanted it to be more than it was. Dressing in silence and avoiding one another for a few days whilst they tried to figure it out.

Of course, it hadn’t stopped there; the pair getting so heated in their next argument that they’d tumbled to the floor soon after. Once could be considered a mistake or lapse in judgement, but twice meant there was more to it. Sanji had surprised him by being the first to acknowledge it, smoking a cigarette by his side and suggesting that it should become a regular thing. Obviously Zoro had agreed to that but after many occasions like this one, it all had begun grating on his nerves.

“If it matters to you so much—” Ah, yeah, here it came: something like ‘then let’s stop’ or ‘find someone else’. It wasn’t what he’d anticipated this time but Zoro had heard this before, too. Why couldn’t the cook just— “—then I’ll tell them.”

Zoro’s eye snapped open as he jumped in his seat, staring across at Sanji’s back while he prepared food in the kitchen. Dumbstruck, his eye wide as his gut twisted, almost unable to believe what he’d heard though he knew better than to think he’d imagined it.

“…Really?” The cynicism in his voice didn’t go unnoticed. Sanji turned his head to look back at him in annoyance, his hand waving around in the air.

“Yeah. I’m getting tired of you complaining about it.”

That wasn’t what Zoro wanted to hear but the reason didn’t matter. If Sanji finally got it out into the open they wouldn’t have to hide it, wouldn’t have to pull away and start yelling whenever anyone else walked in on them. It often felt like someone would intrude just as the mood started to get good, spoiling it and making them annoyed at each other. Sometimes able to be fixed after a while but more often than not ending up in an actual argument. Zoro couldn’t remember how many times it had happened now; the interruptions occurring so frequently that he wondered if they’d argued over it more than they’d done it.

He honestly wouldn’t have been surprised either way.

“Alright,” Zoro crossed his arms over his chest this time, his eyebrow raising. “So when’s that gonna be?”

Sanji scoffed and turned back to his task, rigidly chopping something. Each cut seeming out of agitation rather than anything, though Zoro knew well by now how gently he treated his equipment.

A few moments passed where there was just silence; the only sounds being from what the cook was doing. Zoro frowned to himself in annoyance. The ‘conversation’ seemed to be over already, their earlier flirtations forgotten in the wake of the routine dispute. Not like he’d expected much else.

Sighing to himself, Zoro got to his feet and scratched at the back of his head. Was he supposed to let him know he was leaving now or was there no point? Sanji was acting like he wasn’t there at all, and whilst that could be comfortable at times Zoro knew he was being ignored right now. The atmosphere before Luffy had charged in wasn’t going to come back, even if he went over and tried to flirt with him again.

Perhaps if he hadn’t been pushy things would have been different but Zoro didn’t feel like he was in the wrong. He hadn’t tried to apologise before and he damn well wasn’t going to do it now – not when Sanji knew how frustrating this was for him. Part of Zoro was surprised that Sanji wasn’t more agitated by it himself but that was the thing, wasn’t it? Sanji had no problem with any of this, seemed content to skulk around and make things more difficult by putting up fronts.

There were a lot of things he understood about the cook by now but the mindset behind all of this wasn’t one of them. Literally no one else would care, he was certain of that. Just Sanji stressing himself out for whatever reason, pissing Zoro off in the process. If he didn’t like the bastard so much, then—

The swordsman shook his head as he turned and made his way out of the galley. He wasn’t going to consider that thought any further. It never led to anything good; only causing him to re-evaluate everything and wonder if it was worth it or not. When things were like this, the answer would end up being a ‘no’ and he’d spend hours trying to decide what to do instead of doing anything useful.

Zoro didn’t know if it was resentment that made him feel that way or whether his mind was clearer on the topic when things were frustrating. No longer entranced by Sanji’s seductive ways or teeming with desire, perhaps back to himself as he should be instead.

Of course, no matter how much he thought about it, he never went through with it. Simply catching a glimpse of the cook’s face always made things like that melt away, even if he was still angry. Caused him to forgive and forget within seconds, swallowing his frustrations and flirting with him all over again. He knew it wasn’t healthy, but he couldn’t seem to help himself.

Zoro laid out on the deck and closed his eyes to go to sleep. Though he knew he was going to end up letting it go later, he didn’t want to let Sanji off the hook that easily. Maybe a rest would help calm him down.

\--

For the next few days, Zoro waited patiently to see if anything was going to come from what Sanji had said. Watched him out of the corner of his eye from a distance while the cook went about his daily routines though no longer going into the galley to spend time alone with him. Wanting to see if he had meant it or not, to put some distance between them to cool his own head.

As it was right now, all Zoro wanted to do was make things more difficult. Force a situation where it had to be acknowledged regardless of Sanji’s feelings on the matter and make it impossible to keep it a secret any longer. He knew better than that though; such actions would only piss Sanji off more and likely earn him a kick in the face, extend this awkward period out even further until it couldn’t be fixed anymore.

Much to his annoyance, Sanji didn’t seem bothered in the slightest. Didn’t even so much as look over at him, let alone try to catch him in private to talk or anything else. Zoro very much disliked how it was going; part of him suspecting that this was Sanji’s way of ending things for good. He’d threatened it enough times for the swordsman to know he had thought about it, and it wasn’t like Zoro hadn’t thought about it either. This just wasn’t how he’d expected it to come about; always having thought they’d end up screaming at each other instead of letting it fizzle out.

Sanji was a man of his word, so Zoro had wanted to put faith in his statement. Believe that it would only take a short while before things came to light and he could act however he pleased, not getting an earful or a smack just because someone had wanted Sanji’s attention at the worst time. He hadn’t been lying when he’d said he was tired of it but now he was almost wishing he hadn’t brought it up.

Though the current situation was entirely of his own making, Zoro was finding himself pissed off by it. Hating how he felt like he had to just leave Sanji to his own devices, how all he could do was watch and wait. That wasn’t like him at all; Zoro preferred to take action when things were like this, do something about it rather than let things breathe.

Yet this was a situation where doing nothing was its own way of getting his point across, a reminder to Sanji that he was serious about the whole thing. Zoro knew that if he went to him now, the chance of this being deflected yet again was extremely high – Sanji would probably just distract him with his other methods and they’d end up right back where they started. Since it had come to this, Zoro intended to stick to his guns but it just seemed futile.

So far, the damned cook hadn’t said a thing. There’d been no changes in anyone’s behaviour, no indication that they had a clue what had been happening for the past few months. Apart from their distance now, everything seemed exactly the same.

Zoro scowled as he watched Sanji fawn over the women. So be it.

If this was how Sanji wanted things to go, then he wasn’t going to waste any more time on it. He was right to have been sceptical – what had he expected? This was just more of the goddamn same but with a different lick of paint this time. A new way to try and get him to shut up about it, the cook likely biding his time and waiting for Zoro to cave on it first.

Well, it wasn’t going to happen. Though he’d rather not have things stop abruptly like this, it was better than dealing with having this argument over and over. Sure, he’d miss a lot of what they’d had but the past few days had made it very clear that he could live without it. It was a shame in its own way but Zoro was done with beating his head against this particular brick wall.

Getting up from the deck, Zoro didn’t even look back as he went to his training room, his shoulders tense. He’d just have to work out his frustration; accept that no matter what he did or said, Sanji wasn’t going to make this public. Fine.

The cook wasn’t the only one who was stubborn – Zoro wouldn’t budge on this either.

\--

Whilst he was working out, Zoro was trying not to think about this whole mess.

Trying not to beat himself up over allowing himself to get invested in a relationship with Sanji, pushing aside every thought on the subject with a swing of his weights in the air. He felt stupid for letting himself get caught up in this from the start, for thinking things could possibly go anywhere when he knew the cook was determined not to be honest. In some ways it was a miracle he’d admitted that he wanted any part of this, let alone been the one to suggest it keep happening.

The knowledge of that did nothing to make Zoro feel better though.

The only damn reason he wanted everyone to know was because Sanji was being a pain in the ass about it. All he had to do was stop immediately instigating a fight with him whenever someone showed up! They were often civil and had moments of closeness even when someone was around – the fact that Sanji always jumped into yelling or kicking at times like that was probably suspicious anyway. That would probably have been good enough, but now Zoro wasn’t feeling like it.

The longer he thought about it, the more he just wanted to be able to be affectionate with him as the mood took him. That really wasn’t asking for so much, was it? Not like he was saying the cook had to declare his love for him or whatever – just make it so he didn’t feel obligated to lash out at him to protect his ‘manliness’ or however the fuck Sanji framed this.

Even though he was trying not to think about it, the issue was running around Zoro’s head incessantly. Unable to shake his bitterness over the whole thing no matter how much he tried to distract himself. He just didn’t get it—

Zoro tensed up at the familiar sound of Sanji’s shoes on the ladder, turning away to look at the wall as he continued swinging his arms. He’d made up his mind already, wasn’t going to give the cook a chance to try and talk him around this time. Even if Sanji got on his damned knees he wasn’t going to hear him out.

When Sanji climbed into the room, Zoro smelt tobacco. Listened as Sanji inhaled but didn’t turn to look at him, not even to yell about stinking up the room with his stupid cigarettes. He’d complained about them enough that the cook should have known better, but since when did Sanji give a shit about what he wanted, anyway?

The angle Zoro had turned to wasn’t enough to keep Sanji out of his sights, the swordsman’s gaze drawn to him despite himself. Making sure to only look from the corner of his eye again, not wanting Sanji to know that he actually had his attention.

Was it petty? Sure, but Sanji had been ignoring him too. Just because the cook had finally decided to look at him, it didn’t mean Zoro had to wag his tail and stop what he was doing. Besides, he doubted that this was going to be worth paying attention to anyway; more likely than not, Sanji was just going to complain about his behaviour without addressing the issue.

After a few moments of silence where Zoro ignored him, Sanji sighed.

“You still mad at me or what?” Sanji muttered, holding his cigarette to his lips and covering most of his mouth with his hand. His gaze averted as he stood there, his other hand stuffed into his pocket. Zoro recognised that this was how he looked when he was uncomfortable but opted not to make it easy on him, continuing to swing his weight through the air.

“Don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Sanji groaned.

“Look, I said I’d tell them—”

“Then why haven’t you?!” Zoro lost his composure and dropped his weight to the floor with a loud bang, almost relishing the way it made Sanji jump but too annoyed to do so. “It’s been days!”

“How am I supposed to tell them when you’re avoiding me?!” Sanji yelled back, his face suddenly flushing red. “I thought— I thought you were done with me or something.” The last part came out in a mumble, Sanji’s fingers tensing around his cig. “…Didn’t see the point if it was over.”

Zoro hesitated where he stood, surprised by what he was hearing but not sure if he should believe it or not. For all he knew this was just one of Sanji’s excuses; a way to buy time and get them back into their usual routine without actually doing anything about it.

But at the same time, something about Sanji’s posture was screaming that he meant this. The longer Zoro looked at him, the more certain of that he became; letting out a low sigh and rubbing at the back of his head. They’d both been worried about the same thing, both giving the other space to think things through. It was almost funny – he knew they were similar but for it to go to this extent was kind of ridiculous.

“…S’not over.” Zoro crossed his arms over his chest and shook his head. He thought he’d made up his mind on this earlier but with Sanji actually making an effort to communicate with him on it, he couldn’t stick to that anymore. He should have known better than to assume Sanji would understand what he was doing – not over something like this. “I was waiting.”

At the admission, the cook seemed to calm down a little, the tenseness in his shoulders fading away so they sagged instead. Somewhat as if in defeat, like he was feeling guilty.

“I just… don’t know how to say it.” Sanji took his hand out of his pocket, now holding the back of his head instead. His gaze still averted as he took another drag from his cigarette, his lips tight as he blew the smoke out into the room. “Dunno where to even start.”

Zoro sighed and walked closer, lifting Sanji’s chin with a finger and forcing him to make eye contact.

“But you’re okay with them knowing?”

There was a moment where Sanji looked stressed by his words but instead of starting an argument, all he did was nod. The discomfort at this point was obviously nerves; soothing Zoro though he knew Sanji was anything but soothed right now. He didn’t understand why the cook bothered putting up his fronts or why they were so damned important but he could understand his hesitation.

Sanji probably thought this meant he’d have to change his behaviour in general, stop flirting with every woman he saw… Zoro would like that if he was honest, but didn’t feel threatened by it – so long as Sanji remained faithful to him, he could easily live with it. Not that he would outright say that, of course.

“Alright then, leave it to me.”

Sanji looked at him apprehensively – likely worrying about how exactly he was going to tell them, whether it was going to be something simple or something blunt and to the point like he normally would do things – but then nodded and tilted his head the little he could into Zoro’s hand.

“…Okay.”

\--

After Sanji had left the training room, Zoro had sat on the bench and tried to think through the most appropriate way to let everyone know what was going on. Preferably with tact, since he knew Sanji was still jittery about all of this and would probably scream at him if he did it wrong. He’d considered slipping it into conversation, trying to flirt with Sanji in front of them and seeing how that worked but both of these were too awkward. The first one required him to veer the chatter into that topic and the second required Sanji to respond to him without freaking out – neither seemed very likely to pan out.

There were too many conditions to factor in for Zoro to come up with a perfect solution. Everything seemed too weird or relied on someone else to work with him, and after all his time on the ship Zoro knew better than to count on that. His crew were trustworthy and great for fights but if you even attempted to guide them towards something they were bound to dart off in the opposite direction. It was no wonder that Law had been so pissed off with them all the time when they were allied; trying to keep them on their best behaviour was the job for a goddamn saint.

And Zoro, for all of his positive traits, was definitely not a saint.

Not only because he didn’t believe in gods, but because he was as short-tempered as the rest of them when he wanted to be. He’d put up with Sanji’s wishy-washy attitude over this for a long time but that was an exception, really. A compromise to himself in order to keep getting what he wanted.

He was still mulling the issue over when his stomach growled, alerting him that it was likely dinnertime. As he shrugged his coat back on and redid his sash, he shook his head and let out a sigh. This actually was far more complicated than he expected it to be – it was no wonder that Sanji didn’t know what to do. Even without fronts to try and navigate, Zoro was having a hard time. But it had been left in his hands now, so it was up to him. Zoro wanted to get it over with as quickly as possible now, wanted to move past this mess and save himself even more hassle.

He didn’t have a plan in mind yet but that didn’t matter. No matter what, he was determined to sort it tonight; Sanji would just have to live with whatever he decided. The cook had already had his own chance and had squandered it, so he couldn’t complain.

Zoro slid down the ladder and walked into the galley with an air of calm, seeing everyone else already sitting down at the table. All looking at him briefly before going back to their food, used to him turning up a little late sometimes. Likely assuming that he’d been lost in his workouts again.

“Oh, Zoro! I thought you weren’t coming!” Luffy spoke around the food crammed in his mouth, spraying little pieces of it onto his plate. Zoro was slightly disgusted but knew well by now how Luffy didn’t take such things into consideration at times like this, attempting to walk past him to go towards his seat in silence.

Of course, such behaviours were never acceptable to a certain cook, who had watched the exchange from the kitchen in annoyance. Before Zoro could get very far, Sanji had left the kitchen and made his way over, his anger written on his face.

“Oi, Luffy! What’d I tell you about table manners??” Sanji hissed, stomping over to the Captain as if he was about to beat the crap out of him for forgetting.

Right then, an idea smacked Zoro in the face. Why bother trying to explain the situation when he could do something much simpler that would get the idea across without words?

When Sanji had booted Luffy in the head and gotten him to apologise, Zoro grabbed onto Sanji’s arm. He felt the cook tense as he turned to face him, confused and unsure of what was going on. There was a slight blush across Sanji’s face as he averted his gaze, likely realising that now was the time Zoro had chosen to say something.

Instead of speaking, however, Zoro just pulled Sanji closer and gave him a kiss on the lips. Ignoring how tense the cook got at the action, his own stare directed towards the table.

Simple and effective, right?

The others just looked at them in surprise for a few seconds. Their stares unblinking as they took in the sight, no one saying a word even as Sanji pulled back from Zoro with a bright red face. Though he probably should have looked back at him to make sure he was alright, Zoro was too busy watching the rest of the crew. They were surprised, sure, but not the kind of surprise that he’d been expecting. It was far calmer than he’d thought it’d be, awkward rather than shock. The only one who didn’t seem all that calm was Brook, who appeared to be blushing happily as he took a loud sip from his teacup.

Robin smiled and slowly extended her hand out towards Nami, her gaze smug as she looked at her. Quietly, Nami let out a groan and pulled a wad of cash from within her bra, stuffing it into Robin’s outstretched hand angrily. Zoro heard Sanji stuttering in surprise.

“Dammit, I thought for sure you’d hide it another few weeks at least!” Nami huffed, crossing her arms over her chest. “Can’t believe you made me lose a bet!”

“You shouldn’t have provoked them so much then,” Robin murmured as flicked through her winnings, Zoro scowling at the implication. Not only had they known and made a goddamn wager over it, but Nami had been purposely getting in his way?? “Maybe then you’d have won.”

Nami scoffed in frustration and rested her chin in her hand, sulking as she looked away. Zoro wanted to strangle her for driving him insane, but was distracted when he felt Sanji’s hand tightly gripping onto his shoulder.

As he looked back over, Zoro noticed that Sanji looked mortified. Whether it was from being kissed in front of everyone or the exchange that had pissed him off, he couldn’t tell. The cook looked like he had no clue what to do with himself, so many different emotions flashing through his eyes that Zoro couldn’t really keep up with them. The only one that kept coming up with any consistency was anger and though Zoro hoped it wasn’t directed at him, he knew better than to expect Sanji to lash out at the women.

When a foot connected with the side of his head, Zoro internally groaned. Of course.

“What the fuck were you thinking?!” Sanji yelled, grabbing his other shoulder to shake him violently. His voice was high-pitched as he kept screaming but Zoro just tuned it out and let himself be manhandled, his stomach growling as he looked at the food on the table.

Alright, maybe the days of Sanji shouting at him and hitting him weren’t quite over yet. He should have expected that it wouldn’t be that easy. But one day, perhaps everything would work out.

Zoro hoped for the sake of his sanity that it was soon.


End file.
